Podcasts about Chinese

This week on Sinica I'm joined by Robert Wright, author of The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and The Evolution of God, for a conversation that runs a little outside our usual beat, though China sits closer to its center than you'd expect. The occasion is his new book The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning, which reads the AI revolution as the latest turn in a story going back billions of years. We get into the French Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin's "noosphere," Bob's argument that we evolved large language models rather than engineered them, the cognitive empathy we've both long preached, and the two-word talking point — "But China!" — that Bob thinks is most likely to lead us astray.6:56 – Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere, and why a planetary "global brain" has become necessary14:49 – Directionality without the mysticism: complexification, teleology, and the "cell's-eye view" worry21:57 – The God Test: is moral progress really the price of governing AI, and is that hopeless on a short clock?28:33 – Why Bob says we evolved large language models rather than built them, and the sycophancy problem that follows35:19 – Open weights and open source: a real safety argument, or competitiveness in safety's clothing?40:03 – Cognitive empathy as the master key, and the same capacity as an engine of deception48:06 – Arms-race fatalism and its limits: cheetahs, gazelles, and the rival who can pick up the phone53:40 – "But China": fear of Beijing, Anthropic and Amodei, Jeff Ding, and the chip-control backfire1:10:48 – Nonzero: game theory, common threats, and the takeoff scenarios that worry Bob most1:23:22 – Attribution error and projection, Ed Fredkin's old warning, and the actual first movePaying It Forward: Garrison Lovely, author of the forthcoming Obsolete (Nation Books) and the Substack of the same name on the AI race.Recommendations:Bob: Pantheon, the animated series on uploaded minds and emergent superintelligence; and the Crowded House song "Don't Dream It's Over."Kaiser: Kyle Chan's High Capacity podcast, especially his episode with Carnegie's Matt Sheehan, "Is China Getting Worried About AI?"; and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to 听故事说中文, the podcast where stories come alive to help you improve your Chinese language proficiency and cultural competency. Today, we're talking about something so many of us can relate to: tossing and turning in the middle of the night. We'll follow the story of Chen Mo. On paper, she has the perfect life—a high-level corporate job, a happy family, and a beautiful home. Even her bosses constantly praise her. Yet, sleep completely evades her. After ruling out all the usual suspects like grief, job insecurity, or family drama, a breakthrough with a therapist reveals a hidden culprit. It turns out, her biggest stressor isn't her actual workload, but her own relentless perfectionism and the exhausting, self-imposed pressure to be flawless. Let's dive into her story, explore this modern dilemma, and learn some great vocabulary along the way! ************************************************************ Support Our Podcast If our podcast brings value to your life and you'd like to help us continue creating great content, consider becoming a patron for as little as $7 a month. As a patron, you will enjoy: ✨ Ad-free episodes for an uninterrupted listening experience.

Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author of 25 thrillers and author of the brand-new book Choke Point. Thor detailed his new book, which dives into themes surrounding Chinese "shadow power" and a country that turns down Chinese money. Thor discussed how he keeps his books fresh, as well as how he keeps his books as realistic as possible, in a strategy he calls "fact-ion." Listen to the full interview below! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this Live Greatly podcast episode, Kristel Bauer sits down with Benjamin Todd, co-founder of 80,000 Hours and author of 80,000 HOURS: How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good. Kristel and Benjamin discuss why "follow your passion" may not be the best career advice, what actually contributes to meaningful and fulfilling work, and practical strategies to align your strengths, values, and goals with your career. Benjamin also shares insights on pursuing positive impact, and building a career that supports both success and well-being. Tune in now! Key Takeaways From This Episode: Why "follow your passion" can be misleading career advice The key ingredients of meaningful and fulfilling work How to align your strengths and values with your career The impact of volunteering Tips to pursue success, purpose, and well-being simultaneously How to be a multiplier ABOUT BENJAMIN TODD Ben is the founder of 80,000 Hours, a non-profit that has reached millions of people and helped 3000+ people find careers tackling the world's most pressing problems. He's the author of 80,000 Hours: How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good (Penguin May 2026) and writes about how to prepare for advanced AI on Substack. Dissatisfied with the career advice he received at university, Benjamin began researching the guidance he wished he'd had. Over the next ten years, he grew 80,000 Hours from a student society in Oxford into a non-profit that today reaches 4 million people annually, has over 50 staff, and has raised $30m of funding. It has been covered in the Financial Times, Guardian, TIME, Wall Street Journal and BBC, and was one of the first non-profits to go through Y Combinator, the world's top startup accelerator. 80,000 Hours provides free online research, one-on-one advice, a job board and podcast to help people find more fulfilling and impactful careers. Over 10 million people have read their advice online and over 3,000 have switched to more impactful careers. This includes people who helped to pioneer research into AI safety at organisations like Anthropic, DeepMind, RAND and METR, have taken key roles aiming to prevent a catastrophic pandemic, and have pledged billions of dollars to high-impact charities. As CEO for the organisation's first ten years, Ben led strategy, fundraising, and senior management, building an organisation with average annual staff retention of 95%, while also writing the Career Guide, Key Ideas series and over 100 articles. His TEDx talk has been viewed over 6 million times. Before 80,000 Hours, he was the first undergraduate to intern as an analyst at Orbis Investment Advisory, a $20bn fund. He was the first non-founding member of Giving What We Can, pledging to give 10% of his income to effective charities for life. He has a 1st from Oxford in a Masters of Physics and Philosophy, has published in climate physics, and speaks Chinese, badly. Connect with Benjamin:  Order his book: https://80000hours.org/book/    Website: https://benjamintodd.org/    Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-j-todd/    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benbentodd/  About the Host of the Live Greatly podcast, Kristel Bauer: Kristel Bauer is a corporate wellness and performance expert, keynote speaker and TEDx speaker supporting organizations and individuals on their journeys for more happiness and success. She is the award-winning author of Work-Life Tango: Finding Happiness, Harmony, and Peak Performance Wherever You Work (John Murray Business November 19, 2024). With Kristel's healthcare background, she provides data driven actionable strategies to leverage happiness and high-power habits to drive growth mindsets, peak performance, profitability, well-being and a culture of excellence. Kristel's keynotes provide insights to "Live Greatly" while promoting leadership development and team building. Kristel is the creator and host of her global top self-improvement podcast, Live Greatly. She is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur, and she is an influencer in the business and wellness space having been recognized as a Top 10 Social Media Influencer of 2021 in Forbes. As an Integrative Medicine Fellow & Physician Assistant having practiced clinically in Integrative Psychiatry, Kristel has a unique perspective into attaining a mindset for more happiness and success. Kristel has presented to groups from the American Gas Association, Bank of America, bp, Commercial Metals Company, General Mills, Northwestern University, Santander Bank and many more. Kristel's work has been featured in Forbes and she has had multiple TV appearances including NBC News Daily, ABC News Live, FOX Weather, ABC 7 Chicago, WGN Daytime Chicago and more. Kristel lives in the Chicago, IL area and she can be booked for speaking engagements worldwide. To Book Kristel as a speaker for your next event, click here. Website: www.livegreatly.co  Follow Kristel Bauer on: Instagram: @livegreatly_co  LinkedIn: Kristel Bauer Twitter: @livegreatly_co Facebook: @livegreatly.co Youtube: Live Greatly, Kristel Bauer To Watch Kristel Bauer's TEDx talk of Redefining Work/Life Balance in a COVID-19 World click here. Click HERE to check out Kristel's corporate wellness and leadership blog Click HERE to check out Kristel's Travel and Wellness Blog Disclaimer: The contents of this podcast are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician for any recommendations specific to you or for any questions regarding your specific health, your sleep patterns changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.  Always consult your physician before starting any supplements or new lifestyle programs. All information, views and statements shared on the Live Greatly podcast are purely the opinions of the authors, and are not medical advice or treatment recommendations.  They have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration.  Opinions of guests are their own and Kristel Bauer & this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests.  Neither Kristel Bauer nor this podcast takes responsibility for possible health consequences of a person or persons following the information in this educational content.  Always consult your physician for recommendations specific to you.

Global equities rallied and oil prices fell after an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and hedge funds are betting against the debt and equity of some of Europe's largest carmakers. Plus, a Russian online sabotage network was behind a series of arson attacks on Sir Keir Starmer's family home and other targets linked to the UK prime minister.Mentioned in this podcast:Stocks surge as US-Iran deal ignites global rallyHedge funds bet against European carmakers on Chinese competition fearsArson targeting Keir Starmer properties originated in RussiaWant to get in touch? Email us at podcasts@ft.comNote: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts The FT News Briefing is produced by Victoria Craig, Sonja Hutson, Saffeya Ahmed, Katya Kumkova, and Fiona Symon. Our editor is Marc Filippino. Our show is mixed by Kelly Garry and Alex Higgins. Additional help from Michela Tindera, Gavin Kallmann, Michael Lello, Peter Barber and David da Silva. Our intern is Cole van Miltenburg. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Flo Phillips is the FT's global head of audio. The show's theme music is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the womb is treated as separate from the rest of women's health? In this episode of hol+, Dr. Taz sits down with Dr. Kemi Doll, double board-certified gynecologic oncologist, equity scientist, researcher, coach, and author of A Terrible Strength: The Hidden Crisis of the Black Womb and Your Survival Guide to Healing, for a powerful conversation about womb health, uterine cancer, fibroids, HRT, health equity, and why so many women are still being taught to normalize symptoms that deserve care.Together, they explore why womb health is not only about pregnancy, fertility, or menopause, but a lifelong part of women's physical, emotional, hormonal, and whole-body health. Dr. Doll shares how her grandmother's death in childbirth, her mother's near-death experience, and her own work as a gynecologic cancer surgeon shaped her mission to bring the uterus back into the center of women's health.Dr. Taz and Dr. Doll also discuss why uterine cancer is rising, why Black women are twice as likely to die after a uterine cancer diagnosis, and how gaps in research, screening, and diagnostic tools may leave women of color especially vulnerable. They unpack the role of ultrasound, endometrial thickness, post-menopausal bleeding, and why women need clearer conversations with their providers when something feels off.This conversation also takes a closer look at the explosion of hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, and the questions every woman with a uterus should be asking. Dr. Doll explains why estrogen without proper progesterone protection can increase uterine cancer risk, why some women may not understand the role progesterone plays, and why monitoring the uterus matters when using hormones.If you're listening to this and thinking, “I know something is off in my body, but I don't know where to start,” join the Circle here:

The threats to our freedom are mounting from every direction!

To simply call North Korea a Chinese puppet state doesn't capture the complexity of that relationship. To fully understand it, we must look back at three generations of the Kim dynasty, the current partnerships with other powers, and Kim Jong Un's aspirations. Join the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/PeterZeihan Full Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3PQgjTd

Water Margin by Shi Nai'an (14th century) vs The Adventures of Monkey (Journey to the West) by Wu Cheng'en translated Arthur Waley (16th century/1994)

The FBI disrupted an alleged multi-phased plot targeting last weekend's UFC Freedom 250 event, FBI Director Kash Patel announced in an X post on Tuesday. Investigators have identified 23 people as part of a possible network, with five individuals now in custody.Daniel Rosen, U.S. attorney for Minnesota, announces charges against 15 suspects accused of conspiring with two Minneapolis-based Antifa groups to violently interfere with federal immigration enforcement.And Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway files a lawsuit against a major seller of baby monitors and home security cameras over their alleged ties to the Chinese military.

Today's phrase: 人类丰容 (rén lèi fēng róng) To keep animals engaged and make life more interesting for them, zookeepers often provide what's called "enrichment"—activities or environments that add variety to their daily routines. But what about humans? On the Chinese internet, there's a trending term called 人类丰容 (rén lèi fēng róng) – "human enrichment." It's all about adding small moments of novelty to break up the routine of everyday life. So why this idea is resonating with so many people? Let's dive in. Welcome to The China Code, where every two weeks we break down a trending Chinese internet buzzword. CONTACT THE TEAM We'd love to hear your feedback or suggestions for future buzzwords! Email: crilearnchinese@gmail.com Facebook: @crilearnchinese TikTok: @takeaway.chinese

Raffe is the owner of Cantina Agave,  the very first Mexican restaurant in Shanghai.  Today he is joined by some old friends, BT and Dino on the podcast, as we celebrate Cantina's 18th anniversary and the launch of his new restaurant, Vice.  We talk about why he's stayed in Shanghai and discuss the constant pressure to keep up with this unique city, the challenges of running F&B amid unpredictable rules and high turnover, and how the city shifted from "wild east" days to stricter, safer, more equal enforcement.  We compare Shanghai's convenience and safety with rising costs, crime, and lenient enforcement in the U.S., especially LA, and talk about perspective, media-driven fear, and cultural adaptation. We talk about a renaissance in Shanghai's dining scene, social media's impact, and Cantina's clientele flipping to 70% local Chinese. We also end the episode with a blindfolded taco taste test that doesn't go as planned.   _____________________ If you enjoy this show don't forget to leave a rating! Follow Us On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehonestdrink_/ RedNote: THD The Honest Drink WeChat: THD_Official Find us on: Spotify, Apple, 小红书, 小宇宙, 网易云音乐, Ximalaya, YouTube, Bilibili or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Lisa See joins Carol Fitzgerald to discuss her new novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON, which is a Bookreporter Bets On selection. This time, Lisa explores the idea of female friendship as told by three different Chinese women — Moon, Dove and Petal — who were inspired by real people. The book is rooted in the 1871 Chinese Massacre in Los Angeles, which has been largely erased from public memory and not taught in history classes. Lisa first explored the massacre over 30 years ago while researching ON GOLD MOUNTAIN, where it appeared in a single paragraph. She was later invited by the mayor to serve on an advisory board for a memorial commemorating what became known as the "Night of Horrors." The novel grew from both deep personal family history and a sense of compulsion to recover a deliberately suppressed historical event. Our Latest "Bookreporter Talks To" Interviews: Ruta Sepetys: https://youtu.be/Mv9XRWohkjs Kathryn Stockett: https://youtu.be/-mNe-Y9CctQ Susan Patterson: https://youtu.be/jvZjwDq_dUw Jane Harper: https://youtu.be/PTqqPXbbX8A Devi S. Laskar: https://youtu.be/FR-6fGxBUS4 Allison Pataki: https://youtu.be/5I4q_OFCiTg Patricia Finn: https://youtu.be/QhZagqICgU4 Sadeqa Johnson: https://youtu.be/ED0LOkAarVE Wendy Walker: https://youtu.be/y-2G5AC9heU Our Latest "Bookaccino Live" Book Group Events: Wally Lamb: https://youtu.be/-eMtMznKoVE Laura Dave: https://youtu.be/RRWrSjdxyrc Lisa Ridzén: https://youtu.be/dleYdLoh0bY Patrick Ryan: https://youtu.be/keazeWK1lto Lily King: https://youtu.be/_yo2x2ZA0B0 Allen Levi: https://youtu.be/tELDtaqsD7g Sign up for newsletters from Bookreporter and Reading Group Guides here: https://tbrnetwork.com/newsletters/ FOLLOW US on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter Website: https://www.bookreporter.com Art Credit: Tom Fitzgerald Edited by Jordan Redd Productions

Mentor Sessions Ep. 077: US Iran Failure, Bitcoin Bear Market Over & Yield Curve Control | Doomberg & James LavishThe Iran ceasefire just reshuffled global energy, dollar dominance, and Bitcoin's role as sound money — James Doomberg breaks down what it actually means for your portfolio in 2026.In this episode, Nathan sits down with James Doomberg — one of the sharpest macro and energy analysts in the space — to unpack the cascade of events reshaping markets right now. You'll learn why the Iran ceasefire is a bigger geopolitical pivot than most investors realize, how the SpaceX IPO may function as a financial suppression tool for retail capital, and why Doomberg believes energy markets are sending misleading signals driven by Chinese demand dynamics and a global overbuild. You'll also see exactly why Bitcoin and gold are rising in tandem — and why Doomberg argues monetary debasement makes that trend structural, not cyclical. Finally, you'll understand what yield curve control would mean for bond holders and why the K-shaped economy is deepening in ways that make sound money more critical than ever.• Sovereign Sessions — AI, Privacy, and Bitcoin education: http://youtube.com/@SovereignSessions?sub_confirmation=1⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 Bitcoin Bear Market is Over00:10 The Iran War Outcome00:26 China Flexes Oil Power00:35 K-Shaped Economy & Credit Card Defaults00:43 Yield Curve Control & Money Printing00:52 SpaceX as Financial Suppression01:09 Intro & Context06:25 US Achieved None of Its Objectives in Iran07:34 Gold & Bitcoin Bullish After Iran08:17 Bear Market in Bitcoin is Over09:40 A Profound & Historic Outcome10:20 US Dollar Dominance is Cracking11:10 Freezing Russian Assets Was a Catastrophic Mistake14:28 Bitcoin Bear Market is Over (Revisited)15:38 All Roads Lead to Yield Curve Control17:45 Multipolar World & Weaker Dollar19:29 Massive Money Printing is Coming24:26 Gold & Bitcoin Will Rip Higher26:32 SpaceX Ponzi as Financial Suppression32:07 The Lottery Effect & Tax Receipts37:20 K-Shaped Economy is Getting Worse46:27 Cantillon Effect Explained50:14 Oil is Going Way Lower54:39 What to Watch Next (Fed, Japan, Ukraine)

This episode of West of Knowhere covers a range of stories: the tragic death of musician Oliver Tree in a helicopter collision and a fatal bungee-jumping accident in Brazil; a Sherpa guide who miraculously survived after being presumed dead on Everest; and a New Yorker who fell ill after eating a McDonald's sandwich. We also discuss tech and culture news; OpenAI's claims about Chinese disinformation around data centers, a Whoop heart-monitor experiment ranking stressful coworkers, Niantic's data partnerships with military/intelligence firms, and a MAGA influencer's off-camera prompting plus an “Am I the Asshole?” segment about mocking a coworker's nose job. Hosts Levi and Shane close with listener shout-outs and commentary.   Linktr.ee/wokpod https://www.techspot.com/news/112732-openai-china-linked-accounts-used-chatgpt-turn-americans.html https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/05/travel/everest-rescue-hillary-dawa-sherpa-intl-hnk https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/mcdonalds-sausage-mcmuffin-food-poisoning-lawsuit-b2994290.html https://dronexl.co/2026/06/09/pokemon-go-scans-niantic-vantor-military-drone-navigation/ https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-whoop-heart-rate-meetings-calendar-most-stressful-coworkers-project-2026-6 https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/woman-dies-after-being-launched-off-bridge-without-bungee-rope-265077317723 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/maga-influencer-riley-gaines-caught-on-camera-taking-directions-on-what-to-say-to-viewers/ar-AA25C6Tu https://www.nbcnews.com/world/brazil/rio-de-janeiro-helicopter-crash-rcna350022

1 Kings 15:25-17:24, Acts 10:24-48, Ps 134:1-3, Pr 17:9-11

Top headlines for Tuesday, June 16, 2026President Donald Trump announces a deal to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a new report finds anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe surged in May with dozens of attacks across 11 countries, and Chinese authorities are accused of raiding an unregistered church service and detaining pastors, members, and children. Also, a Louisiana father faces felony charges after allegedly giving abortion drugs to his pregnant teenage daughter without her consent, UFC fighter Mauricio Ruffy shares the Gospel after a first-round knockout victory, the Supreme Court declines to hear a pro-life student group's free-speech case, and Tim Tebow warns parents that smartphones are becoming an entry point for online predators targeting children.00:11 Trump announces Iran deal, reopening of Hormuz Strait00:58  Hate crimes against Christians surge in Europe: report01:48 CCP rounds up pastors, children in house church crackdown: report02:39 Man accused of secretly giving abortion drug to pregnant daughter03:29 Mauricio Ruffy declares Jesus as Lord after UFC victory04:15 Supreme Court won't overturn punishment of pro-life student org05:07 Tim Tebow warns online predators are finding ‘evil' new tacticsSubscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsTrump announces Iran deal, reopening of Hormuz Strait | WorldHate crimes against Christians surge in Europe: report | WorldCCP rounds up pastors, children in house church crackdown: report | WorldMan accused of secretly giving abortion drug to pregnant daughter | U.S.Mauricio Ruffy declares Jesus as Lord after UFC victory | SportsSupreme Court won't overturn punishment of pro-life student org | PoliticsTim Tebow warns online predators are finding ‘evil' new tactics | U.S.

We sit down with special guest Michael Yon to discuss the Chinese moves to assert domination over the world.  Channel Support - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/FGHPVTVAPRUNU Jeff Nyquist - www.jrnyquist.blog Trevor Loudon - www.trevorloudon.com and www.keywiki.org  Lee Wheelbarger - www.klwworldnews.com Follow us on X: @Anderson10x3 @JRNyquist @TrevorLoudon1 @KLWNews1

A high surf warning is in effect as the recent south swell is hitting the islands. We'll take a look at how lifeguards were impacted. Plus, a Kauai community is standing behind a long-standing teacher who lost her job after 33 years. Hear from a Chinese developer who is behind bars for allegedly smuggling aliens and having communist ties. What he has to say, as he fears retaliation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Beyond the Dragon Boats: A Journey of Courage and Change Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-16-22-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 北京首都国际机场的夏天，一个忙碌的早晨。En: A summer morning at Beijing Capital International Airport, bustling and busy.Zh: 在高高的天棚下，空气中飘着粽子的香味，正在庆祝端午节。En: Beneath the high ceiling, the air carries the scent of zongzi, as everyone is celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival.Zh: 这里人来人往，大家都有自己的目的地。En: People come and go, each with their own destination.Zh: 有的人匆匆忙忙，有的人轻装简行。En: Some are rushing, others travel lightly.Zh: 五月是个特殊的日子，她要离开家人，去国外读书。En: For May, it is a special day; she is leaving her family to study abroad.Zh: “姐，你真的要走吗？”玲抬头看着她的姐姐，眼中是难以掩饰的失落。En: "Sis, are you really leaving?" Ling looks up at her sister, unable to hide the sadness in her eyes.Zh: “是的，我要去一个新的地方学习。”五月微微一笑，试图安慰妹妹，也安慰自己。En: "Yes, I'm going to a new place to study." May smiles gently, trying to comfort her sister and herself.Zh: 离别总是难过的，尤其是在端午节。端午节时，大家应该围坐在一起，吃粽子，看赛龙舟。En: Parting is always hard, especially during the Dragon Boat Festival, a time when everyone should gather to eat zongzi and watch the dragon boat races.Zh: 但五月决定，这一次她要抓住这个机会，去看看外面的世界。En: But May has decided to take this opportunity to see the world beyond.Zh: “孩子，到了那边后，要记得每天吃饭，好好学习。”陈握着女儿的手，声音有些沙哑。En: "Child, remember to eat every day and study well once you're there," Chen says, clutching his daughter's hand, his voice slightly hoarse.Zh: 作为父亲，他为自己的女儿自豪，却也担心远方的未知。En: As a father, he is proud of his daughter yet worried about the unknown far away.Zh: 五月转过身，望着忙碌的候机大厅。心中有一万个不舍，但她知道这是一个成长的必经之路。En: Turning towards the bustling waiting hall, May feels a deep reluctance, but she knows this is a necessary step in her growth.Zh: 不远处，是一片热闹的商店与餐馆，人们忙着为即将出发的家人买些小礼物。En: Not far away, shops and restaurants buzz with activity, as people buy small gifts for family members about to depart.Zh: 而她的家人，为她精心准备了一个小型的送别仪式。En: Her family has prepared a small farewell ceremony just for her.Zh: “好啦，我们去那边坐一会儿吧。”五月提议道，轻轻拉起妹妹的小手，走向他们家的小聚会场地。En: "Alright, let's go sit over there for a while," May suggests, gently pulling her sister's small hand, leading her toward their little family gathering spot.Zh: 她知道，这次分别，可能是很长一段时间内最后的欢聚。En: She knows this farewell might be their last joyful time together for quite some time.Zh: 时间渐渐逼近登机的时刻，五月的心跳渐渐加快。En: As the time for boarding nears, May's heartbeat quickens.Zh: 她站在登机口，紧紧抱住父母和妹妹。En: Standing at the boarding gate, she hugs her parents and sister tightly.Zh: 玲趁此机会，将一个小巧的龙舟挂件塞进她的手中。En: Ling, seizing the moment, slips a small dragon boat trinket into her hand.Zh: “姐，希望这个能给你带来好运。”玲嘟囔着。En: "Sis, I hope this brings you luck," Ling murmurs.Zh: 五月低头看看那精致的挂件，感受到家人的祝福。En: May looks down at the delicate trinket, feeling her family's blessings.Zh: 她眨了眨眼睛，努力控制住涌上来的泪水。En: She blinks, trying to hold back the tears welling up.Zh: 随着广播中传来登机的通知，五月知道，是时候开始新的旅途了。En: With the boarding announcement over the speakers, May knows it's time to start her new journey.Zh: 她深吸一口气，感到肩上的责任和期望。En: She takes a deep breath, aware of the responsibilities and expectations on her shoulders.Zh: 终于，五月轻轻松开家人的手，一步步走进登机口。En: Finally, May gently releases her family's hands and steps toward the boarding gate.Zh: 她回过头，挥手告别，脸上带着微笑，就算眼中有泪。En: She turns back, waves goodbye, and smiles, even with tears in her eyes.Zh: 飞机起飞时，天空中的白云渐渐隐去北京的地平线。En: As the plane takes off, the white clouds gradually obscure the horizon of Beijing.Zh: 五月心中充满了对未来的期待。En: May's heart fills with anticipation for the future.Zh: 她知道，家人的爱会伴随她一起去远方，也会给她继续勇敢前行的力量。En: She knows her family's love will accompany her to distant places and give her the strength to continue moving forward bravely. Vocabulary Words:bustling: 忙碌的beneath: 在...下面scent: 香味destination: 目的地rushing: 匆匆忙忙parting: 离别opportunity: 机会clutching: 紧握reluctance: 不舍farewell: 送别passionate: 热闹的ceremony: 仪式gathering: 聚会quickens: 加快seizing: 趁此机会trinket: 小挂件murmurs: 嘟囔delicate: 精致的welling: 涌上来announcement: 通知anticipation: 期待obscure: 隐去strength: 力量accompany: 伴随beyond: 之外gently: 轻轻hoarse: 沙哑reluctant: 不愿enchanting: 迷人的courage: 勇敢

It's one thing to say you're going to create the "Chinese lesbian version of BEFORE SUNRISE (1995)"; it's another thing to actually pull it off.In EPHEMERA (2026), the debut feature for filmmaker Shan Jiang which premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival, it appears she has done just that. It took global producers, a fantastic team, and a truly extraordinary story in how she found the actors, but the film will stand as wide shoulders for so many people and so many future projects.In this episode, we talk about:how she describes EPHEMERA and whether "unhurried" is an adjective she likes to describe the film;the incredible story of how she got involved in filmmaking;her storytelling philosophy, which has been described as " inhabit[ing] familiar narrative tropes and bends them from within to allow new perspectives to emerge" (an amazing quote);the global producers that made EPHEMERA and the concept of China as an entity reacting to a lesbian-focused film; what she took away from this experience for her next feature;finding the incredible actors in this film;what she learned from rehearsals with the actors in a film that is very dependent on them;her direction philosophy in this film and what she views as her job in regarding to structure;why Tribeca ("it's coming home for this film") and the Chinese film festival market;what's next for her.Shan Jiang's Indie Filmmaker Highlight: Celine Sciamma; Peter GreenwayLinks:Follow Shan JiangFollow EPHEMERA On Instagram

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Unclaimed Luggage: The Mystery of the Kite Surprise Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-06-16-07-38-18-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 在北京首都国际机场，夏季龙舟节的气氛让每个人兴奋不已。En: At Beijing Capital International Airport, the summer Dragon Boat Festival atmosphere made everyone incredibly excited.Zh: 五颜六色的节日横幅悬挂在航站楼内，为现代化的机场增添了一丝热闹与节日气息。En: Colorful festival banners hung inside the terminal, adding a touch of liveliness and festive spirit to the modern airport.Zh: 梅是一名勤奋的机场安保人员，她总是留心观察周围的一切。En: Mei was a diligent airport security officer, always vigilant to her surroundings.Zh: 这天，梅正在登机口附近巡逻，她发现一个神秘的行李箱无人认领。En: On this day, Mei was patrolling near the boarding gate when she noticed an unclaimed mysterious suitcase.Zh: 梅走近仔细观察，这个箱子很普通，但在安检员的眼中却显得可疑。En: Mei moved closer to investigate; the suitcase looked ordinary, but to the eyes of a security officer, it appeared suspicious.Zh: 她知道，确保机场安全是她的职责。En: She knew it was her duty to ensure the airport's safety.Zh: 与此同时，一个看起来神秘的旅客——俊从她身边走过。En: Meanwhile, a mysterious-looking traveler—Jun—walked past her.Zh: 他是一个频繁旅行者，梅对他有一些印象。En: He was a frequent traveler, and Mei had some impression of him.Zh: 他好像知道这个箱子的某些信息，但他却假装没看见。En: He seemed to know some information about this suitcase but pretended not to notice.Zh: 梅心中充满疑问。En: Mei was filled with doubt.Zh: 为了弄清楚这个行李箱的来龙去脉，梅决定跟随俊，而不是立刻向上级报告。En: To figure out the story behind the suitcase, Mei decided to follow Jun instead of immediately reporting to her superiors.Zh: 她小心翼翼地跟在他后面，观察他的每个动作。En: She cautiously trailed behind him, observing his every move.Zh: 俊走到一个空座位旁，竟然坐了下来，而那个行李箱就在他的视线之内。En: Jun walked to an empty seat and surprisingly sat down with the suitcase in his line of sight.Zh: 经过一段时间，俊最终站了起来，走向那个神秘的行李箱。En: After a while, Jun finally stood up and moved towards the mysterious suitcase.Zh: 梅的心跳加速，她知道这是关键时刻。En: Mei's heart raced; she knew this was a critical moment.Zh: 她迅速走向前，拦住了俊，并要求他解释这个行李箱的归属。En: She quickly stepped forward, blocked Jun, and asked him to explain the ownership of the suitcase.Zh: 俊微微一笑，打开了箱子。En: Jun smiled slightly and opened the suitcase.Zh: 箱子里是龙舟节惊喜活动的大型风筝节计划。En: Inside were plans for a large kite festival surprise event for the Dragon Boat Festival.Zh: 他解释说，风筝是龙舟节传统的一部分，他为旅客们准备了一个惊喜活动。En: He explained that kites are a tradition of the Dragon Boat Festival, and he had prepared a surprise event for travelers.Zh: 听到这里，梅松了一口气。En: Hearing this, Mei breathed a sigh of relief.Zh: 她意识到自己过于紧张，同时也领悟到，多了解文化习俗有助于她更好地判断事情。En: She realized she had been overly tense and also understood that knowing more about cultural customs could help her make better judgments.Zh: 梅感谢俊为机场增添的节日气氛，并意识到她的职责不仅仅是安全，还包括对文化的理解和尊重。En: Mei thanked Jun for adding to the airport's festive atmosphere and realized that her duties were not just about safety but also included understanding and respecting culture.Zh: 从此以后，梅更加细心地观察旅客的真实意图，同时珍惜不同文化带来的奇妙瞬间。En: From then on, Mei became more attentive in observing the true intentions of travelers while cherishing the wonderful moments brought by different cultures. Vocabulary Words:diligent: 勤奋vigilant: 留心atmosphere: 气氛liveliness: 热闹unclaimed: 无人认领mysterious: 神秘suspicious: 可疑superiors: 上级cautiously: 小心翼翼trailing: 跟随critical: 关键ownership: 归属surprise: 惊喜tradition: 传统customs: 习俗duties: 职责intentions: 意图cherishing: 珍惜patrolling: 巡逻terminal: 航站楼festival: 节日observing: 观察frequent: 频繁pretended: 假装realized: 意识到adding: 增添ensured: 确保trailed: 跟在banners: 横幅festive: 节日气息

Terug naar het Koude-Oorlogscenario | Anthropic en de strategische toegang tot AI | Xi's beleid niet goed voor China zelf Rusland houdt ondanks een stagnerende economie de mogelijkheid van prikacties tegen NAVO-landen nadrukkelijk open. Arend Jan Boekestijn en Rob de Wijk leggen uit hoe Moskou met relatief goedkope operaties de westerse eensgezindheid probeert te breken, terwijl NAVO-landen juist miljarden investeren in afschrikking die idealiter nooit wordt ingezet. Europese defensiepolitiek schuift daarmee terug naar een Koude-Oorlogsscenario, waarin het ontbreken van oorlog het bewijs van succes moet zijn. Poetin verhoogt tegelijk de nucleaire druk wanneer Oekraïne militair succes boekt, maar reageert opvallend laconiek op droneaanvallen op Russisch grondgebied. De Wijk herinnert aan 2022, toen Amerikaanse diensten de kans op Russische kernwapeninzet rond Cherson op vijftig procent inschatten en Washington via geheime kanalen ingreep. De combinatie van druk op het slagveld en Poetins afhankelijke positie maakt de nucleaire drempel de komende jaren eerder brozer dan steviger. Xi Jinping verdubbelt intussen zijn strategische gok op Rusland, ondanks een verzwakkende Chinese economie en toenemende westerse handelsbelemmeringen. Boekestijn en De Wijk schetsen hoe Beijing via technologie en grondstoffen de wereldorde wil kantelen ten gunste van China, terwijl de Europese Unie reageert met technologisch protectionisme, een eigen AI-strategie en nauwere banden met India. De vraag hoeveel speelruimte Europa overhoudt tussen Washington en Beijing, hangt nu af van Xi’s bereidheid om Poetin ooit echt te laten vallen. [Samenvatting geschreven door AI en gecontroleerd door mens] Over de Podcast Arend Jan Boekestijn en Rob de Wijk gaan onder leiding van Hugo Reitsma op zoek naar de nieuwe wereldorde. Wat betekenen oorlog, machtspolitiek en economische verschuivingen voor Europa en Nederland? In elke aflevering duiken zij in de geopolitieke actualiteit. Genomineerd voor de Zilveren Reissmicrofoon 2026, winnaar van de Dutch Podcast Awards 2022 in de categorie Nieuws & Politiek. Reageren? Op X: @ajboekestijn en @robdewijk Bluesky: @hugoreitsma.bsky.social Mail: boekestijnendewijk@bnr.nl Over de makers: Arend Jan Boekestijn is een Nederlands historicus en voormalig politicus. Hij studeerde geschiedenis en politieke wetenschappen aan de Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Boekestijn is voormalig Tweede Kamerlid (tot 2009). Sinds 1989 is hij verbonden aan de vakgroep geschiedenis van de Universiteit Utrecht en sinds 2016 lid van commissie Vrede en Veiligheid van AIV. Rob de Wijk studeerde eigentijdse geschiedenis en internationale betrekkingen, promoveerde op kernwapenstrategieën, werd hoogleraar in Leiden en richtte in 2007 het Den Haag Centrum voor Strategische Studies op. Hugo Reitsma studeerde rechten en politicologie. Hij werkte eerder als politiek verslaggever en vanuit verschillende conflictgebieden. Hij is auteur van het boek ‘Boekestijn en De Wijk voorspellen de toekomst’ (november 2023).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 1979 - brought to you by our incredible sponsors: ETHOS - Take 10 minutes to get covered today, with life insurance through Ethos. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month.  Get your free quote at ETHOS.com/hardfactor 00:00:00 Timestamps 00:05:20 1976 Fun Facts 00:07:00: Did President Trump meet with Aliens?! 00:13:45 Boy Scout troop had their balloon project shot down by an F-16 00:15:10 AI Update  00:16:45 Reddit user figures out how to use AI bots without internet or power  00:20:00 Racist and viral “Natasha Doll” in China has exposed a much darker and more racist trend amongst some Chinese citizens 00:30:10 World Cup talk: The Portuguese team refuses to leave their hotel in Florida due to alligators 00:34:35 Florida Man is pulled over with 34 empty White Claws in his car 00:36:55 Incredible story of a woman who was stuck in the mud for 3 days  For more head over to patreon.com/hardfactor for weekly bonus episodes and most importantly HAGFD! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: -First up—reports of a U.S.-Iran agreement continue to swirl, but competing versions of the deal are raising major questions about sanctions relief, Iran's nuclear program, the future of the Strait of Hormuz, and whether a broader regional peace is actually within reach. -Later in the show—European efforts to crack down on Russia's shadow fleet continue as British forces intercept a Russian-linked oil tanker in the English Channel, the latest move aimed at disrupting Moscow's sanctions-evasion network. -Plus—President Trump says U.S. forces killed the leader of Venezuela's notorious Tren de Aragua gang during a joint operation with Caracas, marking a significant escalation in the administration's campaign against transnational criminal organizations. -And in today's Back of the Brief—Beijing is warning of one of the strangest intelligence threats we've seen in years, claiming foreign spy agencies are deploying "spy turtles" and "spy fish" equipped with sensors to collect sensitive maritime data in Chinese waters. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President's Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Blocktrust: Move your retirement into the next generation of assets, go to https://mikebakercrypto.com now to claim your $2,500 Bitcoin bonus. MUD/WTR: Our listeners get an exclusive deal up to 43% off your entire order when you use code PDB at https://mudwtr.com/PDB  Hexclad: Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at https://hexclad.com/PDB ! #hexcladpartner #sponsored Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, I'm talking with Slydio CEO Adam Bry, who runs the leading US maker of autonomous drones. We covered a lot in this conversation, including Skydio's police and government work at a time when military use of AI is more controversial than ever and competing with Chinese drones against the backdrop of the Trump's administration's DJI ban. There's a lot in this one – maybe more than anything, it was refreshing to hear Adam talk about using AI to bring even more people to work at Skydio as the company expands. I also got to fly a drone, which ruled. Links:  Sorry kid, drones are for war now | The Verge The FCC's foreign drone ban is here | The Verge Skydio is pivoting to enterprise — its consumer drones are dead | The Verge Skydio commits $3.5B to expand US manufacturing | Skydio A US drone maker tries to take back the country's skies | Bloomberg DEA looks to add Skydio, Parrot drones to its arsenal | FedScoop The future of border security isn't at the border at all | The Verge Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/MeetJesus  (NOT a Morning Mindset resource)   ⇒ TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THE MORNING MINDSET - Your personal recommendation can make an eternal difference in the lives of the people you know! STEP ONE: Go to http://YourMorningMindset.com  STEP TWO: Share that page with someone you know! ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:24–28 - Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [25] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. [26] For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. [28] Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Underwrite one daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: @CareyNGreen ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FOREIGN LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: Subscribe to the SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish Subscribe to the CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com   

Informed Dissent with Dr. Jeff Barke – Take the recent respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for pregnant women. The manufacturer's label notes postmarketing reports of increased preterm birth and of neurologic events such as Guillain-Barré syndrome. The label lists residual host cell proteins from Chinese hamster ovary cells and polysorbate 80 among components...

Last time we spoke about the Hubei-Henan Campaign of 1940-1941. In November 1940, a Central Hubei operation using multiple task forces aimed to exploit Chinese dispersal, achieving only local successes and no lasting territorial gains. The Japanese then tried again in late January 1941 with a major offensive into southern Henan. Despite concentrating a large force, the campaign failed strategically. After the Henan failure, Japan attempted to regain momentum in spring 1941 by attacking western Hubei around Yichang on the Yangtze. Despite an initial barrage and rapid early gains, Japanese forces became exposed in a narrow salient. The Chinese reorganized their river defenses and launched a converging counteroffensive, driving the invaders back and ending the engagement where it began, with the Japanese suffering heavy casualties and their westward push thwarted.   #206 The Battle of Shanggao Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The year 1940 had brought a particular humiliation. In August of that year, Communist General Peng Dehuai had launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive — a massive, coordinated assault across North China that shattered Japanese rail and supply lines, embarrassed Imperial General Headquarters, and demonstrated that the Chinese were far from finished. Japan's response had been brutal, the infamous "Three Alls" campaign of reprisals across the countryside. But the damage had been done, and the attention of Imperial General Headquarters shifted northward. The autumn of 1940 had also seen the First Battle of Changsha, where the Japanese 11th Army under General Sonobe Yahachirō pushed south into Hunan Province expecting to overwhelm the Chinese defenders and finally deal a decisive blow to Chiang Kai-shek's armies. Instead, General Xue Yue — the "Tiger of Changsha" — had allowed the Japanese to advance deep into his prepared killing ground before counterattacking from multiple directions. The Japanese had been forced to retreat in disorder, and the front in Hunan and Jiangxi settled once again into sullen stalemate. It was in this atmosphere of frustrated ambition and strategic inertia that the seeds of Shanggao were sown. By February 1941, Imperial General Headquarters had decided to redeploy the 33rd Division — then garrisoned in the town of Anyi, in northwestern Jiangxi — to North China. The transfer was scheduled to begin in early April, and it made strategic sense: the north required reinforcement, and the front in Jiangxi had been quiet enough that one division could be spared. The problem was that the 33rd Division's departure would leave a gap in Japanese dispositions, and no significant offensive operation had yet been conducted to weaken the Chinese forces that would be left facing a thinned-out Japanese line. Lieutenant General Ōga Shigeru, the energetic commander of the Japanese 34th Division, saw opportunity in the window that existed before the 33rd departed. His division was concentrated around Xishan and Wanshou Palace, astride the Xiang–Gan Highway — the main road running westward through Jiangxi — and across that highway lay the town of Shanggao and the Chinese forces defending it. Ōga proposed exploiting the presence of both divisions for a coordinated strike: a sharp, limited offensive to crush Chinese field forces around Nanchang and the Jiangxi interior before the 33rd Division's train north. The 11th Army headquarters, now commanded by General Marube, endorsed a cautious concept — a "quick strike" with limited objectives. But the 34th Division's staff, energized by Ōga's ambition, had already run well ahead of this guidance. Large-scale requisitioning of coolies for logistics was underway; training exercises aimed at the specific terrain around Shanggao had been conducted; planning had progressed in far more detail than a "limited" operation warranted. This eagerness would prove to be the Japanese undoing before the first shot was fired. Chinese intelligence networks, always attentive to the movement of porters and the telltale preparations that preceded a Japanese offensive, quickly detected the scale of these preparations and reported them to General Luo Zhuoying, commander of the Chinese 19th Army Group. By the time the Japanese columns were forming up to march, Luo had already hardened his defenses and laid the groundwork for a trap. General Luo Zhuoying was not a passive commander. He served simultaneously as commander of the 19th Army Group and as Deputy Commander of the 9th War Zone — the latter post placing him directly under General Xue Yue, the victor of Changsha. Luo had spent the lull after Changsha doing what Chinese commanders across the theater had learned was essential: reorganizing, retraining, and above all improving the defensive architecture of his sector. The plan Luo devised for meeting the anticipated Japanese offensive was elegant in its simplicity and demanding in its execution. Rather than contesting the Japanese advance at the frontier, he would allow the enemy to push westward, yielding ground through three successive defensive lines while bleeding the attackers at every step. The first and second lines would slow the Japanese, exact casualties, and stretch their logistics. The third line — anchored at Shanggao itself — would be the killing ground. There, the Chinese forces would hold fast while other formations swung around the Japanese flanks and rear to close the encirclement. The Japanese, having marched deep into Chinese-held territory with their supply lines thinning and their flanks exposed, would find themselves surrounded rather than victorious. For this plan to work, each Chinese formation had to perform its role with discipline. The 70th Corps, deployed in the north along the arc from Shitou Street through Fengxin to Jing'an, would have to conduct a controlled fighting retreat — yielding ground but making the Japanese pay for it, never breaking and running. The 49th Corps would hold the southern flank and create conditions for flanking action. And the 74th Corps — General Wang Yaowu's elite formation, comprising the 51st, 57th, and 58th Divisions — would hold the final line at Shanggao and serve as the anvil upon which the Japanese advance would shatter. The 74th Corps was by 1941 one of the most battle-hardened formations in the Nationalist Army. It had fought at Shanghai in 1937, at Wuhan in 1938, and in the hills and valleys of Jiangxi through the years since. Its men knew the terrain around Shanggao. They had prepared positions in depth, studied the approaches, and rehearsed the defensive plan Luo had designed. When the Japanese came, they would be ready. Against the Chinese 70,000 — distributed across eleven divisions in four corps, with additional provincial security forces for local coverage — the Japanese would throw roughly 20,000 men: three major formations advancing in coordinated columns. The disparity in numbers was stark, but the Japanese had the advantages of offensive initiative, air superiority, and the formidable fighting quality that the Imperial Army had demonstrated throughout the war in China. The question was whether those advantages would be enough to overcome a prepared defense wielded by a commander who had invited the attack. The operational plan devised by the Japanese 11th Army called for three columns to converge simultaneously on Shanggao from north, center, and south — a classic encirclement concept that, if executed with precision, would catch the Chinese defenders in a tightening vice. In the north, the main force of the 33rd Division under Lieutenant General Sakurai Shōzō would drive westward from its bases around Anyi and Ganzhoujie, descending the Liao River valley to threaten the Chinese right flank and prevent the 70th Corps from interfering with operations in the center.In the center, Ōga's 34th Division would advance along the Xiang–Gan Highway — the direct route from Nanchang toward Shanggao — capturing the town of Gao'an along the way and pressing relentlessly westward until it reached the main defensive positions. This was the principal striking force, the column designed to crack open the Chinese defenses and seize the objective.In the south, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade under Major General Ikeda would cross the Jin River and advance along its south bank, eventually swinging north to link up with the 34th Division and complete the encirclement of whatever Chinese forces remained in the Shanggao area. The plan was coherent on paper. But it contained a structural flaw so serious that, in retrospect, it is difficult to understand how the 11th Army's staff allowed it to proceed uncorrected. The success of any converging operation depends on synchronization — on each column hitting its objectives on schedule and maintaining communication with the others so that each can react to developments on the other prongs. Yet the 11th Army headquarters made no recorded effort to coordinate the 33rd and 34th Divisions before the battle began. There was no forward command post established to oversee the operation. General Marube remained at Hankou, hundreds of miles to the north, throughout the battle — as remote from the fighting as a Tokyo bureaucrat. Operational decisions were left entirely to the individual divisions, with no mechanism to coordinate their actions if something went wrong. Something was going to go wrong. Luo Zhuoying had seen to that. On the morning of March 15, 1941, all three Japanese columns stepped off simultaneously, advancing into the misty hills and rice paddies of northwestern Jiangxi. In the north, Sakurai's 33rd Division moved briskly from Anyi toward Fengxin. The town fell by noon, and the division pressed westward in good order. The Japanese infantry moved confidently along the Liao River valley, experienced soldiers who had fought across China and had no particular reason to expect what was coming. The Chinese 70th Corps gave ground — as it had been ordered to — but did so on its own terms, occupying and then abandoning successive pieces of high ground along both banks of the river, making the Japanese advance uncomfortable and costly. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the 33rd Division was being drawn forward into terrain that favored the defender. By March 18 and 19, the 33rd Division had pushed all the way to Guzhu'ao and Huamenlo — a considerable advance, but one that had taken the division far from its base at Anyi. And it was here, far from support and with flanks increasingly exposed, that the Chinese blocking forces closed in. Chinese infantry, who had been waiting in prepared positions in the high ground overlooking the river valley, launched coordinated counter-attacks that struck the 33rd Division from multiple directions. The fighting was fierce and costly. In two days of close combat, the division suffered more than 2,500 casualties — a grievous toll that represented a significant fraction of its effective strength. The northern column had been stopped dead. On March 19, Sakurai ordered the 33rd Division to reverse course. By March 23, after four days of painful withdrawal under pressure, it had pulled back to Anyi — the same place it had started. The northern prong of the Japanese offensive had accomplished nothing except the loss of thousands of men. In the south, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade had a rougher start. Its initial attempt to cross the Gan-Jin river junction at noon on March 15 was repulsed by Chinese defenders, and it was only under cover of darkness that the brigade managed to force a crossing. Once across, it moved westward along the south bank of the Jin River, but progress was slow and contested. A detachment — the Gan River Detachment — ran into fierce resistance from the 26th Division of the Chinese 49th Corps on March 19. The brigade's main body meanwhile fought its way through the 51st Division of the 74th Corps, but the 107th Division and elements of the 51st managed to contain the advance at the Laichunling–Zhutoushan line. On the night of March 20, the main body of the 20th Brigade crossed the Jin River at Huifu to link up with the 34th Division — but a portion of its troops, cut off on the south bank, was destroyed by Chinese forces. The southern column was across the Jin River, but it had taken losses and was already engaged in ways its planners had not anticipated. In the center, the 34th Division fared best in the early going. Ōga's division moved westward from Xishan along the Xiang–Gan Highway on March 16, and by the 17th had captured Gao'an — a meaningful early success. The Chinese 74th Corps, executing Luo's plan faithfully, dispatched only screening forces east of the Tangpu River to slow the Japanese advance rather than contesting it decisively. The main body of the 74th Corps fell back to the third-line positions at Sixi, Guanqiao, and Tangpu, preparing the killing ground that Luo had designated. Simultaneously, the 26th Division and most of the 105th Division from the 49th Corps were shifted across the Gan River to operate south of the Jin River on the Japanese left flank, and the 72nd Corps was ordered to maneuver on a wide envelopment around Daxia and south of Ganfang. By March 20–21, the 34th Division had pressed forward to attack the Chinese positions at Sixi and Guanqiao. Ōga's men were confident — they had taken Gao'an, they were moving, and the objective of Shanggao lay within reach. But as the division pushed toward Shangjijia, it ran squarely into the 57th and 58th Divisions of the 74th Corps, fighting with a tenacity that told the Japanese plainly enough: this was where the Chinese intended to stand. The week of March 21–24 brought the battle to its crisis. The 34th Division hammered at the Chinese positions defending Shanggao itself, while on the flanks, the fighting took on a character that neither side had entirely anticipated. On March 21, General Wang Yaowu — commanding the 74th Corps from his headquarters in Shanggao — decided it was time to do more than absorb Japanese blows. He ordered General Li Tianxia to clear Japanese forces from the south bank of the Jin River and advance on Gao'an, with the aim of cutting the 34th Division's supply line and threatening its rear. It was an aggressive move, and if it had worked, it might have produced a decisive result earlier than history would record. It did not work — at least not immediately. That very evening, the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade, which had been reorganizing after the chaos of the river crossing, launched a powerful offensive at dawn on the 22nd. Li Tianxia's lead elements had barely set out from Shitou Street when they collided head-on with the main force of the 20th Brigade, which had crossed back from the north bank of the Jin River. The Japanese thrust was coordinated and aggressive: one column circled wide to attack Lazhu Mountain; another swung south of Hu Family west of Shitou Street to strike Li's division in the flank and rear; and nine aircraft with four artillery pieces bombarded the Chinese positions from north to south. Li's division could not hold against this convergent assault and fell back to the high ground southwest of Shitou Street. Wang Yaowu reacted quickly. He ordered Li's main body to wheel left to face the new threat and simultaneously dispatched the Army's Field Supplementary Regiment — held in reserve near Yintang — on a forced march to Huayang to block the Japanese westward drive. This regiment, racing down roads strafed by nine enemy aircraft, covered 15 li per hour and seized Huayang and the high ground to its northeast by around seven in the morning. By nine, the 20th Brigade arrived in strength and — supported by more than ten aircraft — launched a fierce assault on the regiment's positions. The regiment's officers and men held firm, taking heavy casualties but refusing to break. Frustrated at Huayang, the 20th Brigade shifted its effort to the Kuang Family area, linking up with over a thousand men who had crossed from Baichetou to the south bank and pushing along the river toward Xiongfang in an attempt to outflank the Chinese left wing. The Supplementary Regiment sent its 1st Battalion with a mortar company to meet this threat, and the two forces met in a fierce engagement. When the Japanese reinforced their assault and deployed incendiary bombs and poison gas, Xiongfang fell by early afternoon — but Li Tianxia immediately sent two regiments from his right flank to take it back, and by midnight the position was in Chinese hands again. Shitou Street and Jigong Ridge were simultaneously recaptured. The Independent Mixed 20th Brigade now found itself in an increasingly uncomfortable position, fighting with the Jin River at its back and the initiative slipping away. Meanwhile, the main event was being fought in the rubble and ridgelines around Shanggao itself. From March 22 to 25, the 34th Division and whatever remnants of the 20th Brigade could contribute threw themselves repeatedly at the defensive line anchored on Stone Arch Bridge, Xia Po Bridge, Xu Lou, Pan Family Bridge, Cloud Head Mountain, and Lei Family Mountain. This was not the fluid, mobile warfare that the Japanese had envisioned but brutal, grinding attritional combat for individual strongpoints and ridgelines, with positions changing hands multiple times in a single day. The Japanese air arm was deeply involved. Ōga's division had close air support that could operate even in poor weather, and Group 3 of the Japanese Air Force hammered the Chinese positions with sustained effort. On the morning of March 24, after the 34th Division fed in more than 3,000 additional troops transferred across the Jin River, the Air Force dispatched over seventy aircraft that dropped more than 1,700 bombs, largely destroying the defensive positions of Liao Lingqi's division. The Japanese exploited the resulting chaos and twice broke through gaps in the line — but were driven out each time by Chinese counterattacks. At noon, enemy aircraft bombarded in relays and Japanese infantry broke through at Xia Po Bridge. It was at this moment that Li Hanqing, commanding the Chinese infantry defense in that sector, did what officers throughout history have done when systems fail and only personal example can stem the tide: he personally led his officer cadre in repeated counter-attacks, hand-to-hand fighting in the rubble until the Japanese were finally expelled. By this point, the 34th Division's offensive capacity was nearly spent. At the same time — and this was the critical shift that would determine the battle's outcome — General Luo Zhuoying recognized that the moment to spring the trap had arrived. The northern column had already been broken and sent reeling back toward Anyi. The southern column was pinned against the Jin River with its back to the water. The central column was bled white against the defenses of Shanggao. Luo now ordered all his armies to close in from multiple directions. On the morning of March 22, he had already begun revising his orders; by noon on the 23rd, the forces of Liu Duoquan and Li Jue had occupied Shitou Street, Guanqiao Street, and Yanggong Market, pressing on Huifu and Gaoyao. The encirclement of the 34th Division was not yet complete, but its shape was unmistakably forming. By March 25, the 34th Division knew it was in mortal danger. Surrounded on three sides, its ammunition running low and its casualty lists growing by the hour, the division urgently appealed to the 11th Army for rescue. The message that arrived in Hankou was a shock. General Marube and his staff, who had remained at their distant headquarters throughout the battle without establishing a forward command post, had not properly grasped the scale of the disaster unfolding in Jiangxi. The lack of coordination between the 33rd and 34th Divisions — the structural flaw that had been built into the operation from its conception — had allowed Luo Zhuoying to defeat each column separately, and now the central column faced annihilation. The 11th Army responded in a scramble. Chief of Staff Kinoshita was dispatched by aircraft to Nanchang with Operations Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Yamaguchi and Captain Ōne to organize a relief operation. The 33rd Division — barely recovered from its own battering in the north — was ordered to sortie immediately and fight its way to the 34th Division's relief. Sakurai organized his battered 33rd Division into three rescue columns. Infantry Brigade Commander Araki Shōji took the right column, leading Infantry Regiment 215 with one mountain artillery battalion. Infantry Regiment 214 formed the left column. The divisional commander himself led the central column with the main divisional force. On March 24 and 25, all three columns sortied from strongpoints at Niuxing, Fengxin, and other positions, attacking across the Wuqiao River and through Cunqian Street toward Tangpu and Guanqiao. The relief operation brought the battle to its most complicated moment. On the morning of March 25, the 33rd Division launched a fierce assault on the forces that Luo Zhuoying had positioned to tighten the encirclement from the north — striking Zhang Yanchuan's division at Kengkou Leng, Jiezipo, and Nancha Luo. Zhang's division, struck simultaneously from the front and rear, withdrew at dusk to near Tu Di Wang Temple, where it linked up with Tang Boyin's division. What happened next became one of the most controversial decisions of the entire battle. Zhang Yanchuan was serving as deputy army commander in the absence of Li Jue from the front. Surveying the situation — his own division under heavy pressure, the 33rd Division's relief columns pushing aggressively — Zhang concluded that the position was untenable. On his own authority, without authorization from Luo Zhuoying or any superior commander, he withdrew both his own and Tang Boyin's divisions to Fenghuang Market and Zhuangfang. The consequence was immediate and severe. The withdrawal opened a corridor through which the 33rd Division entered Guanqiao and linked up with the encircled 34th Division. An encirclement that had taken days of blood and sacrifice to construct was torn open by a single unauthorized decision. Luo Zhuoying, when he received word of Zhang's withdrawal the following morning, was furious — but he could not change what had already happened. He could only adapt. The breakout itself was an ordeal. A portion of the 34th Division that attempted to escape to the east was intercepted near Huifu by a division of the 49th Corps and lost roughly half its strength before being compelled to turn back. The main body ultimately broke out on March 27, withdrawing in march order that told its own story of disaster: headquarters, baggage, artillery, casualties, field hospital, rear guard — all moving in what the records describe as "a wretched state." On the night of March 27, Japanese troops escorting the 34th Division's field hospital — a field artillery company of the 8th Battery — were completely annihilated in a Chinese night attack. When the division reached Longtuan Xu on March 28, the stretcher-bearer column carrying the wounded stretched some seven to eight kilometers along the road. That same day, the 33rd Division's Infantry Regiment 214 finally made contact with the 34th Division's headquarters, completing what amounted to a rescue of men who had already endured their defeat. The 33rd Division's mountain artillery batteries exhausted their entire ammunition supply covering the retreat and required emergency aerial resupply drops to continue. The 34th Division limped back to its original garrison on April 2. Despite the setback caused by Zhang Yanchuan's unauthorized withdrawal, Luo Zhuoying did not abandon his design. Assessing his situation on the morning of March 26, he found reason for cautious optimism: Wang Yaowu's army was still making progress at Shanggao; the Japanese south of the Jin River had largely been cleared; and Sichuan Army and Northeastern Army units that had been moving to reinforce the battle had now reached the field, meaning Chinese forces retained significant numerical superiority. He resolved to execute a second encirclement. At nine in the morning of March 26, Luo issued strict orders: Zhang Yanchuan's and Tang Boyin's divisions were to immediately comply with their original orders and block the enemy near Guanqiao; Yu Chengwan's division was to attack northward via Pan Family Bridge; Liao Lingqi's and Song Yingzhong's divisions were to press toward Guanqiao with full force; Wang Kejun's division was to strike the enemy's flank and rear east of Guanqiao; Fu Yi's division was to advance south of Jiang Family Isle; and Chen Liangji's division was to swing southeast via Changpu to complete the enemy's destruction. The second ring was being drawn. On March 28, as the 34th Division's battered column trudged eastward toward survival, Wang Kejun's division advancing from Yanggong Market moved to intercept it. The Chinese occupied high ground north and south of Yanggong Market and along Mozi Ridge, and what followed was a grinding all-day battle that fixed the Japanese column at the Xiama Bei–Huxing Ridge line. Part of the 20th Brigade, moving up from Gao'an to assist the withdrawing 34th Division, was blocked near Long Tu Market. Liao Lingqi's division pursued the enemy rear guard to the Changling–Manmei high ground, where the fighting erupted with renewed intensity. At noon, part of Li Tianxia's division arrived and deployed along the Shangluoxiang–Shanyuan–Fangtounao line to harass the Japanese right flank; part of Yu Chengwan's division reached Longxing Mountain and outflanked Guanqiao Street from the south. The surviving Japanese defenders in Guanqiao withdrew into the town for a last stand, and after Liao's division pressed the assault, street fighting raged until five in the afternoon, when over 600 defenders were annihilated. Over 2,000 troops of the Independent Mixed 20th Brigade conducted a fighting withdrawal from Long Tu Market and Yanggong Market, covered by Japanese aircraft bombing to shield the 34th Division's retreat. By noon on March 30, the Japanese had abandoned both strongpoints and scattered northeastward. One group of over 600 men fled directly into the main positions of Zhang Yanchuan's division — an ironic fate, given Zhang's earlier withdrawal — and were largely annihilated. The encircling forces had been essentially dispersed, and the two pursuit columns now pressed forward under the overall direction of General Xue Yue, who had assumed personal coordination of the chase. On March 27, Luo Zhuoying — confident that victory was secured — issued a general order for a final offensive and announced substantial cash rewards to his troops: prizes offered for the capture of Japanese officers, artillery pieces, regimental colors, and other materiel. The rewards were both a practical incentive and a mark of how far the battle had tipped. By midnight on March 31, Chen Hongshi's advance column had recovered Gao'an; Wang Tiehan's division had recovered Xiangfu Guan. On April 2, the divisions of Zhang Yanchuan and Song Yingzhong recovered Fengxin; that afternoon Wang Tiehan's division took back Xishan and Wanshou Palace — the very base from which the 34th Division had launched its offensive. By April 3, the pursuing armies had reached the vicinity of Dacheng and Ganzhoujie. On April 8 and 9, the 70th Corps recovered the outpost strongpoints around Anyi before halting operations. The Japanese had retreated into their original positions and were defending from prepared terrain. The pursuit was over. The Battle of Shanggao had lasted nineteen days and nights. No battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War was ever free of the fog of competing claims, and Shanggao was no exception. On March 29, before the pursuit had even concluded, Luo Zhuoying telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek with his accounting of the victory. His numbers were dramatic: Major General Iwanaga, the Japanese infantry commander, killed; regimental commander Colonel Hamada, killed; over 15,000 Japanese killed or wounded in total. Chinese losses, Luo reported, exceeded 20,000. Ten guns, over a thousand rifles, and numerous machine guns had been captured. His superior, General Xue Yue, was skeptical. In a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek on April 5, Xue reduced Luo's numbers by twenty percent, reporting 12,520 Japanese killed or wounded and 14 prisoners captured. The discrepancy between two Chinese commanders reporting on the same battle speaks to the difficulty of battlefield accounting in any era, and suggests something of the competitive pressures that shaped how Chinese commanders reported their victories to Chongqing. The official Chinese histories, compiled after the war in the History of the War of Resistance, reported approximately 15,000 Japanese killed or wounded, 17 prisoners taken, and significant quantities of captured materiel: 6 mountain guns, 1 mortar, 24 light machine guns, 408 rifles, 24 grenade launchers, and over 111,717 rounds of various ammunition. Chinese casualties, by the same records, were 17,119 killed or wounded and 2,814 missing. Japanese records for the battle do not survive — a consequence of the wholesale destruction of Imperial Army documentation at the war's end. Contemporary scholars, working from other sources, estimate actual Japanese combat losses at approximately 5,500 killed and wounded. This is substantially lower than the Chinese claims, as was nearly always the case in the war, but represents a significant defeat by any measure: roughly a quarter of the force committed, many of them veterans impossible to replace. Chiang Kai-shek subsequently awarded the victorious Chinese units a commendation prize of 150,000 yuan — a substantial sum that marked the battle's significance in Nationalist eyes. The outcome at Shanggao was not accidental. Several interlocking factors combined to produce a Chinese victory, and each deserves consideration. The most fundamental was Luo Zhuoying's defensive plan. The decision to trade space for time — to absorb the Japanese advance through three successive defensive lines rather than contest the frontier — required both tactical confidence and a willingness to accept initial setbacks that could easily be misread as defeat. Chinese forces had to give ground, and they did. They had to suffer through the early days of Japanese advance without breaking and running, drawing the enemy forward and allowing the encirclement to take shape. That they largely succeeded in executing this plan reflects the improving quality of the Nationalist Army by 1941: better trained, better led at the operational level, and — critically — equipped with a strategic design that matched the actual balance of forces. The defeat in detail of the Japanese columns was equally important. By neutralizing the 33rd Division in the north before it could contribute to the central effort, and by pinning the 20th Brigade against the Jin River with its back to the water, Luo's forces ensured that the 34th Division faced the third-line defenses essentially alone — outnumbered, overextended, and unsupported. The Japanese operational concept had been a three-pronged convergence; what actually materialized was a single exhausted division hammering at a prepared defense while two other columns were rendered ineffective. The absence of coordination within the Japanese 11th Army was a gift that kept giving throughout the battle. No forward command post. No mechanism for the divisions to adjust their operations in response to each other's situations. No ability to recognize, in real time, that the northern column was being destroyed and redirect resources accordingly. General Marube's decision to remain at Hankou while his men died in Jiangxi was not merely an administrative failure; it was an operational catastrophe. Japanese commanders acknowledged this failing explicitly after the battle, but the acknowledgment changed nothing for the dead. Zhang Yanchuan's unauthorized withdrawal — the single most consequential individual decision of the battle — ultimately prevented a complete annihilation of the 34th Division rather than affecting the battle's outcome. The 34th Division escaped; but it did so in a "wretched state," having lost enormous numbers of men and equipment. It broke out, not triumphed. The encirclement Luo had constructed was torn open, but the Japanese paid dearly for the breach. The consequences of Shanggao rippled outward in ways that shaped the subsequent course of the war in central China. The transfer of the 33rd Division to North China — the original logistical rationale for the entire operation — was delayed by the division's involvement and subsequent losses at Shanggao. When it finally arrived at the Battle of Central Plains  the following month, it did so on the eve of battle with no time for preparation or orientation, entering combat under severely disadvantaged conditions. The operation that was supposed to facilitate a smooth redeployment had instead damaged one of the two units involved and delayed the other. For the Chinese 74th Corps, Shanggao had an ironic consequence. The Japanese 11th Army, following the battle, formally designated the 74th Corps as a priority target — a "standing enemy" and directed its forces to seek out and destroy it in future operations. At the First Battle of Changsha that September, the 11th Army specifically oriented its forces against the 74th Corps, a testament to the lasting impression that corps's fierce resistance at Shanggao had made on its adversaries. The compliment of being specifically targeted by the enemy was one the 74th Corps had earned in blood at Shanggao's ridgelines and shattered bridges. More broadly, the battle was widely regarded at the time, and has been regarded since, as one of the most significant Chinese tactical victories of the first four years of the War of Resistance. Its significance lay not only in the casualties inflicted — those were contested and probably inflated in the Chinese records — but in what it demonstrated. The improving tactical and operational competence of the Nationalist Army was on display. The deliberate defense, the layered withdrawal, the coordinated encirclement — these were not the operations of an army that had been fighting desperately for survival since 1937 and had learned nothing. They were the operations of an army that had studied its defeats and adapted. Shanggao did not change the strategic situation in China. The front in Jiangxi remained where it had been; the Japanese still occupied Nanchang and the major cities; Chiang Kai-shek was still in Chongqing and the war was still far from over. But it demonstrated something important: that the Chinese Army, given capable commanders, a sound plan, and the discipline to execute it, could do more than survive Japanese offensives. It could reverse them, encircle them, and pursue them back to where they came from. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In March–April 1940, Japanese forces attacked Shanggao with a limited, multi-pronged plan. Chinese troops used elastic defense and coordinated counter-moves, turning initial advantages into a trap. After intense fighting and air strikes, a coordinated encirclement and timely breakout routed the Japanese, forcing retreat despite their numbers in a costly battle.

Informed Dissent with Dr. Jeff Barke – Take the recent respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for pregnant women. The manufacturer's label notes postmarketing reports of increased preterm birth and of neurologic events such as Guillain-Barré syndrome. The label lists residual host cell proteins from Chinese hamster ovary cells and polysorbate 80 among components...

In this hard-hitting episode of the Battleground America podcast, the host exposes breaking details regarding a massive child trafficking investigation revealing that over 15,000 unrelated individuals sponsored three or more unaccompanied minors under previous border policies. The segment then switches to a fierce critique of the new Trump-negotiated peace proposal, blasting it as "Trump's pallets of cash" for unlocking $25 billion in frozen assets for Iran while leaving key military assets intact. Finally, the host sounds the alarm on the UK's upcoming social media ban for under-16s, warning that the policy is a Trojan horse designed to eliminate online anonymity and force a total Chinese-style digital ID surveillance dragnet. Battleground America Podcast, Border Crisis Investigation, Child Trafficking Expose, Trump Foreign Policy, Iran Peace Deal Controversy, Strait of Hormuz, UK Social Media Ban, Digital ID Surveillance, Totalitarianism Warning, Department of Homeland Security Shutdown

We are back in the month of June—a namesake time of year that invites us into a specific flow of reflection around family, identity, and the complex experiences of adoption and belonging. In this episode, April welcomes back the amazing Libby Hobbs (first heard on the podcast in August 2025 alongside Ahna Fleeming) for a powerful, heartwarming, and deeply honest catch-up. Sitting together right in April's Harlem brownstone, they dive into the massive new season of Libby's life: graduating college, leaving The New York Times, and moving all the way to Oklahoma to find her writer's voice as a reporter for the startup local news source, the Tulsa Flyer. Libby shares a profound, full-body-chill moment from a recent reporting assignment on cultural Mahjong, where a group of local elder women welcomed her and affectionately claimed her by her Chinese middle name, Shinlan (New Orchid). This powerful experience of acceptance sparks a beautiful conversation about what it means to step into vulnerability as a strength, build community from scratch, and claim our heritages on our own terms. Together, April and Libby also unpack the layered realities of navigating Father's Day as transracially adopted persons—celebrating and honoring the deep, foundational love for the dads who raised them, while fiercely holding space for the unknown origins and ancestral spirits that live inside their bodies. This is an episode filled with deep connection, laughter, and lots of love. It is a beautiful reminder that we are who we say we are, and that adoption truly has so much to teach the world.

As we step into the fiery energy of June, we're joined once again by our longtime friend and collaborator, Katie Hess of LOTUSWEI. Katie is an author, flower alchemist, and expert in bioenergetic remedies.At this midpoint of the year, we check in on each of the Chinese zodiac animals and explore the themes unfolding in the Year of the Horse. Katie shares a flower ally for every zodiac sign, offering support, insight, and guidance for the months ahead.Join us for a conversation on zodiac wisdom, flower elixirs, and how to work with the energetic currents of the year.What we talk about in this episode:-Horse year symbolism and energy themes-Flower elixirs as natural medicine-Mid-year review and reflection-Zodiac animal support strategies…and much more!Mentioned in this episode:Katie HessFlower HuntersOur Feng Shui Energy Map EkitRegister for our free & on-demand Feng Shui plant workshop, available for a limited timeHarmonize your Home with Feng Shui PlantsEnhance your qi, prosperity and wellnessThanks so much for listening to the Holistic Spaces Podcast brought to you by Mindful Design Feng Shui School!-Sign up for our newsletter for exclusive complimentary special workshops and offers for our newsletter subscribers ONLY! -Make sure you're following us on Instagram for feng shui tips and live Q&A's.-Learn about our courses and certification on our website at: Mindful Design School.-Check out our older episodes on our Holistic Spaces Podcast archive.Time stamps for this episode:[00:00] Introduction to the Horse Year and Flower Allies[02:41] Mid-Year Review: Themes and Reflections[12:49] Zodiac Animals and Their Flower Allies[30:42] The Power of Teamwork and Collaboration[31:51] Embracing Support and Unity[35:14] Transformative Work in a Horse Year[37:32] Nurturing Purpose and Mission[39:22] Refining Through Challenges[40:46] Community and Connection for Monkeys[42:22] Fearlessness and Exploration for Dogs[46:44] Clarity and Priorities for Pigs[50:40] Embracing Impermanence and AcceptanceMORE QUESTIONSHire one of our Mindful design school Grads for a 1-1 consultation. We know so many personal questions come up. That's why you need a 1-1! Laura and Anjie offer all these freebies, but if you want to learn more it's time to ask a professional. learn more HEREORDER OUR NEW BOOK HERE

Tom Webb takes us to the Chinese city named after the fictional 1933 literary paradise of Shangri-La to sort fact from fiction. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nez is back with another quick review of the 2000 Jet Li action/crime thriller ROMERO MUST DIE. When a Chinese gang lord's son is murdered in Oakland, his brother, Han, breaks out of a Hong Kong prison to find out how it happened and to avenge his death. He arrives on controlled turf, a waterfront run by the rival gang-lords Ch'u Sing (Han's father) and Isaak O'Day, and their respective Chinese and African-American crime organizations. When it is clear that something bigger is involved, Han teams up with O'Day's daughter Trish to continue the hunt for justice.   Join The Action Returns Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/841619946357776 Follow The Action Returns on IG and X: Instagram: @theactionreturns X: @action_returns Check out everything Horror Returns at: https://thehorrorreturns.com Join The Horror Returns Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1056143707851246 THR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thehorrorreturns Join the THR Presents: Stream Fiends Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3860579827402429 Follow THR Stream Fiends on IG: @thrstreamfiends Hit up E Society on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ESocietyPodcast/ ESP Podbean feed: https://macnezpodcast.podbean.com ESP Spotify feed: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/esoc Mac Nez Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7jot3LglMA0EuGTUikXejq?si=21b39da4784e4528 E Society YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliC6x_a7p3kTV_0LC4S10A E Society and Mac-Nez t-shirts Tee Public: http://tee.pub/lic/9ko9r4p5uvE X: E Society Podcast: https://x.com/esocietypod The Zissiou: https://x.com/TheoZissou Instagram: E Society: https://www.instagram.com/esocietypod/ Mac Nez Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/macnez/ The Zissiou: https://www.instagram.com/thezissou/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@esocietypod        

Ready to begin your journey of healing? It's time to reclaim your life with elite and discreet premium psychotherapy with Dr. Gregory T. Obert;

The first official returning guest of the 10th year of this podcast, Sadie Waycaster aka SadiebyDesign returns almost 9 years later as we get to catch up and talk about some past fandoms, new fandoms, and Cosplay! Sadie was one of my first guests back in 2016 and was a huge supporter of the podcast in its infancy. Ever since then, it has been a pleasure to know Sadie and follow her life and work and have someone I can call a friend. I knew I wanted her to return and she said yes, so here we are. We get to catch up first since it has been awhile since we talked, and then we cover a number of new fandoms that Sadie's into. These fandoms include (but are not limited to) Infinity Nikki, Witch Hat Atelier, Chinese dramas, Brandon Sanderson, The Knight and The Moth, Tusk Love, Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Project Hail Mary. Sadie also talks about the past several years with her cosplay work, her departure from Instagram and re-emergence on TikTok, and her plans to return to her website and blog/vlog. You can find Sadie at: https://www.facebook.com/sadiebydesign https://www.tiktok.com/@sadiebydesign https://www.sadiebydesign.com/ You can listen to Sadie's previous episodes here: https://talesfromthefandom.libsyn.com/episode-12-sadie-geerligs https://talesfromthefandom.libsyn.com/beauty-and-the-beast-review-with-sadie-geerligs https://talesfromthefandom.libsyn.com/2017-retrospective-with-sadie-geerligs-of-sadie-by-design

Send us Fan MailAt the end of every school year, I ask my students one question:What activity or strategy helped you grow the most in Spanish this year?This year, their answers surprised me.Some students chose Daily Personal Questions. Others selected Silent Sustained Reading. Some preferred podcasts, cultural articles, Calendar Talk, Star Student Interviews, content-based units, or creating stories.What stood out most?Nobody agreed.And that led me to an important realization about language acquisition, student engagement, and comprehensible input.In this episode of Growing With Proficiency: The Podcast, I reflect on what my students taught me about Dr. Stephen Krashen's concept of optimal input and why the search for the "perfect" activity may be keeping us from creating truly sustainable language classes.If you've ever wondered how to keep students engaged while providing rich, comprehensible input throughout the entire school year, this episode is for you.✨ In this episode, you'll learn:• Why there is no single activity that every student finds engaging or effective• What my students' survey responses revealed about language acquisition• How to provide compelling, comprehensible, rich, and abundant input• Why students need multiple entry points into the language• How daily routines like Silent Sustained Reading, Calendar Talk, podcasts, and Daily Personal Questions support acquisition• Why 50 or 90 minutes of any one activity can become exhausting• The planning shift that transformed my classroom and reduced decision fatigue• How routines create a more sustainable world language classroomWhether you teach Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese, or another language, this episode will help you rethink student engagement and build a classroom that is both acquisition-driven and sustainable.

In this episode, we kick things off in Washington, where a renewed push to tax Chinese cargo ships has agricultural shippers warning of catastrophic consequences for U.S. crop exporters. Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Elizabeth Warren are pressing the Trump administration to reinstate port fees on Chinese vessels, charges that were suspended until November after China applied reciprocal fees. The Agriculture Transportation Coalition warns the proposals threaten the very existence of large segments of U.S. agriculture by denying them the ability to continue exporting. Next, we head west to examine how the nation's busiest container gateway is bracing for a significant downturn while massively ramping up infrastructure spending. The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved a three point four billion dollar annual budget even as the port forecasts a seven percent decline in box volumes to nine point three million TEUs. Despite the volume decline driven by trade volatility and China's shrinking import share, the budget increase of six hundred sixty-five million dollars over the prior year is mostly driven by a thirty-one percent expansion for capital improvements. Finally, we explore a bold vision for autonomous cross-border freight taking shape along the Texas-Mexico border as industry leaders debate the Green Corridors project at a major Laredo conference. The privately funded initiative proposes a one hundred sixty-five-mile elevated guideway linking Laredo and Monterrey through a network of autonomous freight shuttles. The system would feature secure terminals connected by a closed-loop automated corridor designed to bypass traditional border bottlenecks, with the capacity to handle as many as ten thousand trailers per day in each direction and a targeted twenty thirty launch. Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's story: The 'cola wars' of the 1980s and 1990s pitted Coca-Cola against Pepsi. Both brands had their classic recipes and their 'diet' alternatives. But as consumers pivoted away from full-sugar sodas, makers of fizzy drinks found a new hit: 'zero-sugar' recipes that tasted just like the original. Now, the hot debate among soda drinkers is between diet and zero-sugar recipes. Transcript & Exercises: https://plainenglish.com/873Get the full story and learning resources: https://plainenglish.com/873--Plain English helps you improve your English:Learn about the world and improve your EnglishClear, natural English at a speed you can understandNew stories every weekLearn even more at PlainEnglish.comMentioned in this episode:Hard words? No problemNever be confused by difficult words in Plain English again! See translations of the hardest words and phrases from English to your language. Each episode transcript includes built-in translations into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, and Turkish. Sign up for a free 14-day trial at PlainEnglish.com

Movies can be a fun and engaging way to learn about a country. Through Chinese movies, you can discover the language, culture, and stories that shape life in China. In this episode, we'll explore Chinese movies that have won fans around the world and learn practical Chinese expressions related to movies and cinema. We'll also take a brief look at China's vibrant film culture and how film festivals bring filmmakers and audiences together. (02:51) Why Chinese movies are loved by global audiences? (15:50) China's film culture and essential movie-related Chinese expressions.

Ever since conquistadores claimed Taino land in the name of their Catholic God and New England Puritans formed their strictly Protestant “city on a hill,” religion has been central to American life. Even as some found religious freedom—Rhode Island welcomed the Quakers, Jews, and Baptists that Massachusetts expelled as dissenters—indigenous people and Africans forced into slavery struggled to protect their religious practices. With the constitutional separation of church and state, it fell to the American people to decide: would they sharpen religion's formidable powers of division, or reimagine its creative possibilities? In A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2026) Brook Wilensky-Lanford follows this essential American tension from first contact through the 2024 election. This is an expansive history of extraordinary religious questions, told through the ordinary people who grappled with them. It is a story of defiance: Anne Hutchinson, preaching against Puritan clergy; Reform rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise serving soft-shell crab to his kosher guests at an 1883 banquet; and Wovoka, a Paiute man who envisioned the Ghost Dance movement, which persisted in the face of violent government repression at Wounded Knee. It is also a story of community: Millerites waiting together in vain for Jesus's return on a rainy October night in 1844; Chinese immigrants bringing Daoist and Buddhist gods to their California temples; Mormons pushing westward to build their “new Zion” in Utah. And in the last fifty years, it has been a story of muscular political power, as the religious right has sought to shape the present and paint the past in its own image. At a moment when religion penetrates even the most secular aspects of American life, understanding its history is more essential than ever before. “It is in history that the very human work of religion happens,” Wilensky-Lanford shows us, “and in ordinary time that even the most carved-in-stone tenets can and do change.” Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a religion writer, editor, and teacher. The author of Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and former managing editor of Killing the Buddha, her work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Currently the Associate Director of Sacred Writes Public Scholarship, she holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University and a PhD in Religion in the Americas from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she lives. This episode's host, Jacob Barrett, is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Religion and Culture track. For more information, visit his website thereluctantamericanist.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Three massive semiconductor and computing developments are reshaping the future of AI infrastructure — and 7investing's Simon Erickson sits down with Nick Rossalillo of Chip Stock Investor to break them all down. First up: Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS), which just went public on May 13th at $185/share (~$40 billion valuation) and is now trading near $46 billion at 90x trailing sales. The company's Wafer Scale Engine, a chip that uses an entire silicon wafer rather than individual diced chip, was designed specifically for AI inference workloads that NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs struggle to handle efficiently due to on-chip SRAM limitations. With potential $20 billion in orders from OpenAI and access via AWS, Cerebras is real, but neither Simon nor Nick is buying at this price. Their rule: wait a year before touching a fresh IPO.Next, SpaceX's freshly-raised $75 billion gets put under the microscope, specifically Elon's ambition to build orbital data centers. Nick walks through the SpaceX diagram: 70-meter solar panel wingspan, laser-based networking between compute modules, and the massive engineering challenges around power, heat dissipation, and in-orbit assembly. This isn't imminent, Starlink's next-gen constellation comes first — but if Elon can crack the economics, it would rewrite the rules of data center infrastructure entirely.Finally, Huawei's Tau Scaling announcement: a new architectural approach to chip performance that bypasses the need for extreme ultraviolet lithography (which China can't access due to ASML export controls). Tau temporal scaling focuses on minimizing signal travel time between transistors using logic folding, new materials, and 3D stacking. Huawei claims it could reach 1.5 nanometer equivalent performance by 2031. Simon and Nick are skeptical — 381 chips in six years is not mass production, and TSMC (NYSE:TSM) will be well past that node by then but it's worth watching as China continues building workarounds to Western export restrictions.Whether Moore's Law is dead or simply rerouting, the chipmaking industry is more innovative and more investable than it's been in decades.Join the conversation on the 7investing discord: https://discord.com/invite/PT9ZQqdXXSWant access to all 7investing research? Join at 7investing.com/subscribe Follow Chip Stock Investor  @chipstockinvestor  and https://chipstockinvestor.com/Stocks & Companies Mentioned:Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS)NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)AMD (NASDAQ:AMD)SpaceX (SPCX)Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company / TSMC (NYSE:TSM)ASE Technology Holding / ASE Group (NYSE:ASX)Vicor Corporation (NASDAQ:VICR)ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML)Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)Amazon / AWS (NASDAQ:AMZN)Alphabet / Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS)Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930)Huawei — private (Chinese company)OpenAI — privateLuckin Coffee (OTC:LKNCY) — mentioned as cautionary example#Semiconductors #MooresLaw #CerebrasSystems #CBRS #AIChips #NVIDIA #SpaceX #OrbitalDataCenters #HuaweiTech #TauScaling #ChipStocks #AIInvesting #TechStocks #GrowthStocks #StockMarket #InvestingIn2026 #7investing #Simonerickson

Ever since conquistadores claimed Taino land in the name of their Catholic God and New England Puritans formed their strictly Protestant “city on a hill,” religion has been central to American life. Even as some found religious freedom—Rhode Island welcomed the Quakers, Jews, and Baptists that Massachusetts expelled as dissenters—indigenous people and Africans forced into slavery struggled to protect their religious practices. With the constitutional separation of church and state, it fell to the American people to decide: would they sharpen religion's formidable powers of division, or reimagine its creative possibilities? In A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2026) Brook Wilensky-Lanford follows this essential American tension from first contact through the 2024 election. This is an expansive history of extraordinary religious questions, told through the ordinary people who grappled with them. It is a story of defiance: Anne Hutchinson, preaching against Puritan clergy; Reform rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise serving soft-shell crab to his kosher guests at an 1883 banquet; and Wovoka, a Paiute man who envisioned the Ghost Dance movement, which persisted in the face of violent government repression at Wounded Knee. It is also a story of community: Millerites waiting together in vain for Jesus's return on a rainy October night in 1844; Chinese immigrants bringing Daoist and Buddhist gods to their California temples; Mormons pushing westward to build their “new Zion” in Utah. And in the last fifty years, it has been a story of muscular political power, as the religious right has sought to shape the present and paint the past in its own image. At a moment when religion penetrates even the most secular aspects of American life, understanding its history is more essential than ever before. “It is in history that the very human work of religion happens,” Wilensky-Lanford shows us, “and in ordinary time that even the most carved-in-stone tenets can and do change.” Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a religion writer, editor, and teacher. The author of Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and former managing editor of Killing the Buddha, her work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Currently the Associate Director of Sacred Writes Public Scholarship, she holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University and a PhD in Religion in the Americas from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she lives. This episode's host, Jacob Barrett, is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Religion and Culture track. For more information, visit his website thereluctantamericanist.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

learn word-building patterns for vocabulary about size and people

1 Kings 14:1-15:24, Acts 10:1-23, Ps 133:1-3, Pr 17:7-8

NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - Chinese News at 15:10 (JST), June 15

Ever since conquistadores claimed Taino land in the name of their Catholic God and New England Puritans formed their strictly Protestant “city on a hill,” religion has been central to American life. Even as some found religious freedom—Rhode Island welcomed the Quakers, Jews, and Baptists that Massachusetts expelled as dissenters—indigenous people and Africans forced into slavery struggled to protect their religious practices. With the constitutional separation of church and state, it fell to the American people to decide: would they sharpen religion's formidable powers of division, or reimagine its creative possibilities? In A God-Shaped Nation: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2026) Brook Wilensky-Lanford follows this essential American tension from first contact through the 2024 election. This is an expansive history of extraordinary religious questions, told through the ordinary people who grappled with them. It is a story of defiance: Anne Hutchinson, preaching against Puritan clergy; Reform rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise serving soft-shell crab to his kosher guests at an 1883 banquet; and Wovoka, a Paiute man who envisioned the Ghost Dance movement, which persisted in the face of violent government repression at Wounded Knee. It is also a story of community: Millerites waiting together in vain for Jesus's return on a rainy October night in 1844; Chinese immigrants bringing Daoist and Buddhist gods to their California temples; Mormons pushing westward to build their “new Zion” in Utah. And in the last fifty years, it has been a story of muscular political power, as the religious right has sought to shape the present and paint the past in its own image. At a moment when religion penetrates even the most secular aspects of American life, understanding its history is more essential than ever before. “It is in history that the very human work of religion happens,” Wilensky-Lanford shows us, “and in ordinary time that even the most carved-in-stone tenets can and do change.” Brook Wilensky-Lanford is a religion writer, editor, and teacher. The author of Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and former managing editor of Killing the Buddha, her work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Currently the Associate Director of Sacred Writes Public Scholarship, she holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University and a PhD in Religion in the Americas from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she lives. This episode's host, Jacob Barrett, is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Religion and Culture track. For more information, visit his website thereluctantamericanist.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

On this week's show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of streaming films that feature protagonists going through tough times. The first is the first directorial venture from the actress Kristen Stewart titled “The Chronology of Water.” They follow that with a look at the bewildering Chinese import “Resurrection.”

Michael McFaul recommends helping Ukraine win the war to undermine Putin's grip on power, as a democratic Ukraine directly contradicts Putin's narrative that Russians require a strong dictatorship. He also stresses the importance of competing for talent by attracting educated Russian and Chinese citizens to the United States through smarter immigration policies. During the Cold War, the ability to draw in the world's smartest people was a major American advantage that is currently being hindered by restrictive visa rules. Strengthening this "brain drain" from autocracies is vital for long-term technological and economic competition. (7)1900 BAKU